Korean chat app Kakao Talk is now available on Mac, while a search chat feature lands on Windows

After the announcement of a merger with Korea’s second-largest internet portal Daum, chat app maker Kakao isn’t resting on its laurels. It has just made Kakao Talk available for Mac users via a newly-launched native desktop Mac client, and introduced a new search chat feature for users on Windows PCs.

The beta version of Kakao Talk on Mac is available in Korean and English, with features including full sync between mobile and Mac, friends list, chat rooms, emoticons, and the ability to receive files in any format — this comes in particularly useful for sending Word and Excel documents, or photos and videos not taken on mobile. Kakao says more features including search chat and the ability to send files will be landing on Mac “soon” too.

In the meantime, Kakao has rolled out a new search chat feature, currently only introduced on its Windows PC client. This allows users to search through any conversation by keyword and find all relevant messages sent or received in that particular chatroom in reverse chronological order. The feature will only come to mobile apps later this year, Kakao says.

The latest launch brings Kakao Talk in line with its close Asian rival, Japanese messaging app Line, which already has desktop clients for both Mac and Windows users. Recently another rival, Chinese messaging app WeChat, also finally came to the desktop with the launch of a native Mac client.